Lives of alchemystical philosophers: To which is added a bibliography of alchemy and hermetic philosophyWaite, Arthur Edward
Philosophy
Lives of alchemystical philosophers: To which is added a bibliography of alchemy and hermetic philosophy
Waite, Arthur Edward
Alchemists -- Biography; Alchemy -- Bibliography; Alchemy -- History
Cremer, whose intentions were sincere, was not less grieved than
Raymond at this issue of the event, but he was subject to his
sovereign, and could only groan in silence. He declares his extreme
affliction in his testament, and his monastery daily offered up prayers
to God for the success of Raymond’s cause. The Abbot lived long after
this, and saw part of the reign of King Edward III. The course of
operations which he proposes in his testament, with apparent sincerity,
is not less veiled than are those in the most obscure authors.[N]
Now, in the first place, this story is not in harmony with itself. If
Raymond Lully were at Vienna in 1311, how did John Cremer contrive
to meet him in Italy at or about the same time? In the second place,
the whole story concerning the manufacture of Rose Nobles is a series
of blunders. The King who ascended the throne of England in 1307
was Edward II., and the Rose Nobles first appear in the history of
numismatics during the reign of Edward IV., and in the year 1465.
“In the King’s fifth year, by another indenture with Lord Hastings,
the gold coins were again altered, and it was ordered that forty-five
nobles only, instead of fifty, as in the last two reigns, should be
made of a pound of gold. This brought back the weight of the noble to
one hundred and fifty grains, as it had been from 1351 to 1412, but its
value was raised to 10s. At the same time, new coins impressed with
angels were ordered to be made, sixty-seven and a half to be struck
from one pound of gold, and each to be of the value of 6s. 8d.--that is
to say, the new angel which weighed eighty grains was to be of the same
value as the noble had been which weighed one hundred and eight grains.
_The new nobles to distinguish them from the old ones were called Rose
Nobles_, from the rose which is stamped on both sides of them, or
ryals, or royals, a name borrowed from the French, who had given it to
a coin which bore the figure of the King in his royal robes, which the
English ryals did not. Notwithstanding its inappropriateness, however,
the name of royal was given to these 10s. pieces, not only by the
people, but also in several statutes of the realm.”[O]
In the third place, the testament ascribed to John Cremer, Abbot of
Westminster, and to which we are indebted for the chief account of
Lully’s visit to England, is altogether spurious. No person bearing
that name ever filled the position of Abbot at any period of the
history of the Abbey.
The only coinage of nobles which has been attributed to alchemy was
that made by Edward III. in 1344. The gold used in this coinage is
supposed to have been manufactured in the Tower; the adept in question
was not Raymond Lully, but the English Ripley.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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